Mission Dawn Patrol

[chiliVANilli]

If you make it all the way to Vail, Co., let me know, I'd love to see your van in person. Plenty of cool stuff to see and do around here. Also if you need a place to do anything to the van, got a big shop here.

 

[Jb1rd]

Chili we need to meet, I live in Edwards, my wife is a teacher at Brush Creek Elem in Eagle.

 

[volcomsurfer]

So the build is done. I'll check the in progress a lot more often. PM me for any questions or if it's time sensitive.

Here's the trip thread
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/154848-Paradise-2-Pavement

 

[FarmerFrederico]

Got the trim done

How did you attach the trim to the metal? Did you rivnut some bolts sticking out and then have a plastic threaded knob hold it on?

 

[dttocs]

How did you attach the trim to the metal? Did you rivnut some bolts sticking out and then have a plastic threaded knob hold it on?

See earlier in the build thread - Velcro and spray adhesive to keep the Velcro attached to the metal.

 

[maxjmclaughlin]

Hey man, incredible job with that build! Just sat down and read the whole thing through...definitely inspired me, i'm currently in the planning phases for my van purchase/conversion/build! Hope your trip is going well! I was wondering how those motion sensor lights are working out for ya? really like that idea. Also how is your rear camera setup working? It looked like a fairly affordable setup and I feel like a reverse camera would be nice with a big rig loaded down with stuff.

 

[volcomsurfer]

I hooked up the motion sensors as just regular switch lights because I didn't like the automation after a while. The rear camera setup is great. I highly recommend it. However, I can't find a program that will play the recordings back. They are in some number format like .268 I've tried converting them to .MP4 .AVI .MOV and no luck.

 

[DzlToy]

VLC Media Player will play almost anything.

H264 and H265 are video codecs IIRC.

 

[philos]

+1 on VLC player. I use it professionally as an editor.


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[volcomsurfer]

yeah VLC was the first thing I tried... doesn't play

 

[DzlToy]

unpossible, VLC plays everything :-D

Seriously, I have never found anything that program would not play. Do you have all of the recent codecs and such?

Are your sure that the video file from the camera is good and not corrupt?

Any documentation on the exact file type that is saved by that particular camera or device?

 

[philos]

Hmmm... sometimes you can use QuickTime to convert funky codecs, try a couple different versions of QT and QTPro if you have access. Adobe Premiere is good/great at reading proprietary codecs too.

And yeah, source file may be corrupted too.

If your recording device has an output for playback (1/8, rca, etc) you could crash-record to another device with a more friendly video format/codec.

That's all I got for now.


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[KeyserSoSay]

Since this thread is recently back on top, seems like a good time to ask for an update on the van- I really dig your roof-rack canopy idea and was wondering if you have any updates of how the design has fared in the real world, and maybe some pics? You've got my wheels spinning on a similar awning and was wondering what changes you'd make if you could.

 

[volcomsurfer]

Well I've been living in Salt Lake City for the season. Just snowboarding and making money at the moment. Waiting for the snow to melt and then heading north. The canopy is dope as fk. It's fared in 18 knot winds and all stitching is still solid. Ties down tight and really isn't a pain to set up at all. It's the perfect height, length, width. I wasn't sure if the wrapping around was going to be worth it, but having shade over the back windows makes the bed enjoyable during the hottest sunny days in baja. I would do it again.

 

[KeyserSoSay]

Sweet, thanks. Was thinking of something similar, my van-bus is 16' long at the roof, and was thinking of building 8' awning supports with about a 12" rise- swivel mounted at the corners of the roof rack. The way I've got it figured they'd be held open (out) with gas pistons or a slam-latch, but swing back flush against and integrated into the roof rack and latch closed, if that makes sense. Would need at least one additional support in the middle for an 8' span, this could be on a swing arm as well, if I could figure out how to have them all lay flush and pretty into the walls of the roof rack. Do you think an 8ft span of canvas between supports is just too much, what would you concider to be a minimum number of supports to cover a 16ft span? If the supports where pinned or bolted in place, and you could really stretch the canvas hard against them, seems like 2-3 supports would do the job, no?

Sorry if this is a hijack of your thread here, comes with the territory a bit when you design and build something cool and unique like your awning.